Avram Grant was a disaster as a manager but was dignified in so many ways

Monday 16 May 2011 11:20 BST

When Avram Grant walked into a conference room at Wigan yesterday evening, he knew the game was up.

Waiting for him there were newly-relegated West Ham's owners, the two Davids, Gold and Sullivan.

Grant was told that he had been dismissed. The three men spent around five minutes in the room at the DW Stadium - there were no raised voices, no recriminations.

The Israeli was dignified, stoical and understanding. Not long afterwards, he informed the players of his demise. They insisted he join them on the flight back to Stansted, rather than the lonely return journey in a private car.

As a person, Grant was liked and respected by his players but, as a manager, things were different.

Yesterday's fateful 3-2 defeat at Wigan encapsulated Grant's one-season tenure as West Ham manager, some positive signs but ultimately not nearly good enough.

Grant's languid demeanour, again in evidence yesterday, did him no favours. Players are no different to anyone else in the workplace - they need to be inspired from time to time.

When you talked with the West Ham manager privately, there was a quiet, understated passion and just occasionally that bubbled to the surface, as it did when West Ham beat Liverpool 3-1 at Upton Park in February.

Mostly, though, Grant presented an impassive, implacable face to the world in an industry which now demands a public demonstration of animation.

In the end, some managers just grow into their jobs, they suit the clubs for which they work.

Grant never did but, in his defence, his position became almost untenable in mid-winter, when the club's owners, admitting they had made a mistake, attempted to replace him with Martin O'Neill.

Some managers would have found the working conditions after that intolerable but, if it affected Grant, hid it well.

Grant, after all, has endured far worse things in his life, especially the knowledge that most of his family died in the Holocaust and that his father, Meir Granat, had to bury his parents, brothers and sisters, with his bare hands.

Grant will soon find another job, maybe even just down the road at Stamford Bridge as he has influential friends in Roman Abramovich and super agent Pini Zahavi.

As West Ham's manager, he was a disaster. As a man, he is something much more substantial.